Gigi dragged Drake and pulled him at a sprint down the dark passage. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had just witnessed. It had happened so quickly. One second, the arachne was about to bring his black spear of a leg down on top of her. The next, it was just gone. The goblin was reasonably sure she could have dodged the blow and broken the hairy leg at the joint. However, she was willing to admit that it was nice that she hadn’t needed to. Gigi had never had someone cut off a man’s limb to defend her. It was kind of sweet.

Eventually, she realized nobody was chasing them, and they were alone in a desolate part of the tunnel. Her feet stopped as the panic in her chest settled. Her head swiveled as she tried to see if anybody had followed them. It appeared that they hadn’t. It’s not as if there was actually organized law down here, but Gigi knew mob justice was, in fact, a very popular brand in the hollow.

“I take it they don’t like humans much down here,” Drake huffed, catching his breath. “How are you so much faster than me when I’m so much taller?”

“I don’t know, humans are bad at everything,” she said as she crossed her arms. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it earlier, but no, humans are very much not welcome down here.” She motioned for him to keep moving. “I thought with your tattoos they would just figure you’re a familiar…like Qarl. I guess I should have checked to see if you knew what that was.”

“Next time,” he said with a wink. “I’m guessing they serve vampires? That’s what the giant spider said.”

“Yeah, ‘serve’ is one way to put it. They are basically slaves that double as food in a pinch.”

“Oh,” Drake blanched.

“Have you ever had to fight a vampire?” Gigi asked with curiosity.

“No, can’t say I’m particularly keen on changing that.”

Gigi smiled. “That’s good because the mistress of the league is one of them,” she said, pointing at her own fangs. “She’s supposed to be as feared as they come.”

“Ugh, doesn’t that make me food?” he stopped walking.

“Nah, she’s not like that anymore, she’s retired, I guess,” she said, pulling him forward.

“Why are humans so hated down here? I mean, I can assume, we don’t make many friends, but is it something specific?” Drake asked as Gigi turned down another corridor. The cave creep was starting to grow thicker on the ceiling, and Gigi watched Drake duck under it. “I thought humans built these mines?” he wondered aloud.

Gigi chewed on his question as she led them down a staircase cut from the stone. Not being human, she hadn’t really considered it before. If she was being honest, she often forgot Drake was human and the baggage that was carried with it. She just thought of him as well…Drake. She knew the stories went that the humans built these mines a couple of centuries ago, but then they abandoned them and left earthen tunnels to rot under the weight of the world.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Whatever it was, people haven’t let it go.”

“They never do,” Drake sighed.

The couple traversed a staircase that began to warp and spiral unevenly as the rock grew more rough. Then they emerged from the stairs into a new vast cavern. The cave creep grew wildly here, carpeting the floor and painting the ceiling with its ghostly iridescence. A waterfall raged from a hole in the rock, forming a small pool in the center. Beside the glimmering water was their destination. The dusk-colored mansion that stood beside the eerie pond. It was a massive structure with three spiraling towers that almost kissed the cavern's roof. The structure preened proudly, a beacon of activity. It streamed light from its many windows. Raucous revelries were being broadcasted from inside and bouncing around the cavern.

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Gigi smiled in relief. They were late, but they were finally here. There was no line to get in, which meant they were extremely behind schedule. She sighed. Hopefully, they would at least get to see her friend fight after everything they had gone through to get here. She turned back to see Drake staring wide-eyed at the rows of glowing flowers.

“Is this a garden?” he asked with wonder.

“Yes, an extremely hungry one. Now, stay on the bridge,” she said, pointing to the raised stone path that slithered above the reaching plants.

“Do people ever fall in?” he asked as he followed.

“Drunk ones…actually kind of a lot now that I think about it.” Gigi almost had, more than once, staggering back out. “I’ll mention it to Lili. It could be on purpose. Cut down on plant food.”

Drake grimaced. “Who’s Lili?”

“She's the person who runs this whole league and owns all of this,” Gigi made a sweeping gesture.

“The vampire?” Drake asked.

“Yeah, but she’s still a person.”

Drake looked at the vast mansion that loomed larger as they came closer. “Fair enough, I’ve never met one. Is she nice?”

“Well, mostly, as nice as someone who drinks blood and lives forever can be, she’s nice to me anyway.” She turned to Drake as they approached a set of bright red doors at the end of the winding path. “Just don’t do anything to get on her bad side, and try to act as little like a human as possible when we go in.”

“What does that mean?” he asked bewildered.

She thought about it. What did she mean? The humans she had seen in the hollow, the ones that weren’t owned, were usually criminals. She knew Drake had a way of drawing unwanted attention. “Just try to say as little as possible, okay? If anybody asks, I won you in a game of cards.”

“Won me in a game of cards…” he said to himself.

“Don’t overthink it. Let’s go,” she said, forcefully pushing the red door open.

***

Drake’s stomach was a pit of centipedes crawling on top of each other. As Gigi pushed the door open, he tried to memorize the only lie he could cling to. Won me in a game of cards. However, that thought was quickly washed away in a deluge of sights and sounds that enveloped them as they walked through the threshold.

The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the ceiling. It looked as if they had somehow gone outside. Above them, he recognized the night sky. Inside the mansion, it was a somewhat cloudy night, but the moon was full and high. It shined bright, like freshly polished bone. There were so many stars, making up constellations he was not familiar with. Without warning, the collections of the stars came to life, the constellations swimming across the blackness with vigor.

He forced himself to pull his eyes back down. Before him, there was a crash of life and activity in the cavernous hall before them. Men of different species stood on podiums calling out bets and odds to the onlookers, brandishing coins and crumpled notes. Despite the differences among their creeds, they all came together to indulge in the intoxicating breath of gambling.

This was an aspect of life he was only too familiar with. He wouldn’t have described himself as a gambler, but he understood the appeal. A little for a lot, but there was always a catch. His brothers-in-arms had gambled away their pay and rations night after night. Watching them was one of his primary forms of entertainment.

The soldier noticed an especially large number of creatures he had never seen before. They appeared to be gigantic, finely dressed, albeit furry, bats. They stood out to him because they did not seem to be enjoying the festivities. Instead, they appeared to be carting trays full of drinks to the various patrons. He saw a group of the bat waiters holding up a particularly drunk arachne, trying to move its long, spindly body forward like a marionette toward the exit.

“Yes! It’s only intermission!” Gigi cried, pumping her fist. “We aren’t too late to see Mai kick ass in the main event!”

“What’s an intermission? Is it dangerous?”

“No, it’s a time to place bets and get drunk,” she beamed. “Let’s go down below. I want to wish Mai luck, plus the fighters drink for free there.”

Drake nodded as she pulled him forward. They darted between the crowd of intoxicated and shouting guests. He did notice that there weren’t any humans among the partygoers, but he also didn’t spot any other goblins. He wondered if Gigi herself was an oddity down here. He was fairly certain he hadn’t seen any goblins in Poppy besides her family either. The soldier wondered if she had even noticed herself or cared.

They emerged from the mass of people at a stairwell with a colossal breed of the serving bat hunched before it. It had a massive upturned nose that delicately sniffed at the air. Its fur was mottled gray and black. Drake thought it looked soft but refrained from trying to pet the man-bat.

Gigi held out her palm wrist up to the bat in the blazer. Its snout danced for a second, taking in the scent. It then nodded. The gigantic creature took a few small shuffling steps to the side to let them pass. The goblin began to make her way down the steps. She turned back to her companion.

“You coming?”